A woman says United Airlines paid her $75 in hush money when man masturbated next to her on a flight — and it's part of a disturbing trend

A United Airlines aircraft taxis as another lands at San Francisco International Airport in 2015.Reuters

Mikaela Dixon, 21, says a man masturbated next to her on a recent flight from Orange County, California to Chicago.

While flight attendants moved her when she notified them, she said United security let the man go without calling police and paid her $75 to try and keep her quiet about the lurid incident.

Dixon is one of many women recently who say they have been subjected to masturbators on flights, with many saying the airlines didn't do enough to right the issue.

A 21-year-old woman is furious at United Airlines for the way they handled a man she says masturbated next to her on a flight for more than an hour.

On a recent flight from Orange County, California to Chicago, Mikaela Dixon said she was seated between her boyfriend and a strange man.

In a series of tweets, Dixon explained that while her boyfriend was asleep, she noticed the man start to pleasure himself under his blanket.

"I had no idea what to do, I couldn't get up [because] I didn't want to go anywhere near him. I couldn't call an attendant over because he's in the aisle seat and would've heard me reporting him.

She said she stayed in her seat, "shaking," until the plane landed and the man got up to use the restroom. That's when called a flight attendant over and reported him.

The flight attendant — who she told BuzzFeed News was "super sympathetic and nice" — moved her to another seat. When they landed, she said the man tried to bolt, but another male passenger who heard what happened stopped him.

Dixon is disappointed with the way United addressed the issue from there. She said United representatives told her they had called the Chicago Police Department, but she later learned that airline security had let the man go without informing the authorities.

She said believes the $75 that the airline paid her was also an attempt to keep her quiet about what happened.

United told BuzzFeed News they are now reviewing the incident.

Unfortunately, Dixon's story is one of many. In the past few years, there have been several documented cases of passengers masturbating on planes. In more than a few cases, passengers were outraged with the way the airline handled the issue.

Mocked by staff

On a June 4 United flight from London to Chicago, 26-year-old Genevieve Pascolla said she notified flight attendants about a man masturbating next to her. She said staff moved her but then joked about the incident, asking her, "What perfume are you wearing?" and telling her the man "had a bit of wine."

Forced to sit next to her assaulter

In July, Anne Dowling filed a lawsuit against United, claiming the airline failed to protect her when a man seated next to her on a flight from Hong Kong to Denver in 2016 started "rubbing her vagina through her clothes" while "rapidly masturbating" under his blanket. She says she asked a flight attendant to move her, but initially the crew member refused and said she should talk to the man instead.

The man who watched porn on his iPad

A woman on a Southwest Airlines flight from Las Vegas to Philadelphia in May said a man next to her watched porn on his iPad throughout the flight, without headphones in. She told TMZ that at the end of the flight the man patted her on the head and told her he hoped she "enjoyed the show." She reported the man to the airline, and they offered her a voucher for free dinner.

While she was sleeping

In July 2017, Chloe King wrote a post on Medium about a man who masturbated next to her on an American Airlines flight. She said she was sleeping when the incident happened. When she woke up, a flight attendant informed her what had happened and said that the man would be arrested when they landed in Paris. But she was forced to remain in her same seat for the rest of the flight.

Helpless teen

Monica Amestoy was 17 years old in 2012 when said she witnessed a man seated across from her on a United flight from New York to Los Angeles begin to masturbate under a blanket. When she reported the man to a flight attendant, they didn't move her or confront the man, according to her lawsuit against the airline.